I want a retro WoWs to be something like this:
"Your ship has caught on fire."
"You extinguish the fire."
"Your ship has caught on fire. Twice."
"Oh no! The captain has cholera!"
"The captain has died."
"Your magazine explodes."

Except that a good brawler (Roma or not) isn't going to approach a battleship who is going in full reverse bow-on. Brawling isn't about just running out into the open and tackling a person - it's about utilizing terrain and distraction to give yourself an advantage, then pouncing. You're painting a single (bad) brawling scenario and then writing off Roma because she can't do the impossible - that's great, and all, but it's selling the ship short on something she can do, if played well... selective reasoning aside.

I don't know? Enough? Tier 8s are still seeing tier 6s a fair amount of the time, and you never know when you're going to catch an Iowa or whatever who has pushed up too far and exposes the broadside.
I didn't say "brawl exclusively." However, "don't brawl in her" seems like a bit of a disservice. She'd be a horrible knife fighter without that traverse, but to ignore its utility in situations where it can be put to use is stupid. "Never" is a very broad field indeed.